[gianni60]

Dude, you gotta check out the xe6.

It’s absolutely nothing like the traillii, and it’s probably the most fun iem I’ve heard.

You think your wallet’s getting off that easy?

Thanks,
so could be will buy in september XE6.

After bought in 4 months RHFE,Traillii,Jewel,First Time,Lotoo LPGT TI,Boulder 812,foe XE6 my wallet dont cry a lot

 

[Natesdailies]

Dude, you gotta check out the xe6.

It’s absolutely nothing like the traillii, and it’s probably the most fun iem I’ve heard.

You think your wallet’s getting off that easy?

+1 XE6 is complementary to those. It will diversify your IEM collection.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

I think it's mainly the price of the Orpheus which is more than most TOTL IEMs. I am a big cable believer in terms of fine-tuning the signature and brushing up some of the tangibles/technicalities, but $4k+ for a cable is pretty wild ($7k now). I don't think you will find many HF'ers who own the bird and other TOTLs arguing that cables don't alter the sound one way or another.

My biggest revelation has been how much cheaper flagship headphone cables are in the desktop world, and they make just as a big (if not a bigger difference) than most TOTL portable cables I've heard (still haven't heard Orphy). But as the sentiment has been echo'd over and over, we're chasing the last %s at this level and if you have the money for a $4k+ cable to help maximize a portable setup, why not then?

Oh, and if you think portable cables cause religious wars, you should have seen some of the backlash I got for posting impressions about power conditioners and power cables (all of which for my entire chain is still less than the price of 1 orpheus). Snake oil of all snake oils lol.

I finally heard the Orpheus cable. I liked it, but I didn't like it enough to spend even the lowest used price I could find at $4000. It's worth about $2000-2500. That's what I would be willing to pay for it.

I just bought a First Times shielding for under $2000 and it has a lot of the attributes of the Orpheus that I heard at a much lower price. It's better than the First Times non-shielding which you can get for under $1600.

Also, when you get to this priced cable, it starts taking on the character of jewelry. So, ergonomics and aesthetics play a bigger role than normal. Believe it or not, I like the tight weave of the Orpheus more than the improvement in sound that it provided. The First Times Shielding has a similar tight weave.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Thanks,
so could be will buy in september XE6.

After bought in 4 months RHFE,Traillii,Jewel,First Time,Lotoo LPGT TI,Boulder 812,foe XE6 my wallet dont cry a lot

Nice. You need to add an LP6 ti 7AE. That would really round out your collection.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

There are people who frequent here that can speak WAY more intelligently than I can on this, but from my listening neither FT or Orpheus add “more bass”. Rather, it’s increased texture and “weight” to the frequency range that I experience. Especially Orpheus. In other words, I don’t think you’d find that it wrecks the Trailli’s natural FR.

I’ll stop talking so I don’t embarrass myself trying to articulate this any further, lol.

I agree with you. The presentation of sound is different. It's not that there is more or less of any frequency. The IEM just sounds different with the Opheus and FT shielding. It's like there is another dimension of sound to its presentation. The First Times non-shielding does not have the same effect to my ear.

 

[gianni60]

Nice. You need to add an LP6 ti 7AE. That would really round out your collection.

For next months i will enjoy lpgt ti wayting the new LP7 that soon or later will
Arrive

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

For next months i will enjoy lpgt ti wayting the new LP7 that soon or later will
Arrive

I am seriously thinking about getting an LP6. I loved its sound. I am on the wait list for the preorder of the LP7 and I am around number 37. I may not get in on the first or second batches unless some people drop out. The price may weed out some potential buyers. It may weed me out, too. You can get an LP6 for probably half the price of an LP7 if its priced in the range of a 7AE.

 

[Hoegaardener70]

So … with Traillii thread folks mostly discussing other IEMs … does mean that the bird landed flat on its nose?

I know that a lot has been said and comparisons been made, but I’d love to hear more from long time users if they still love the bird and if not, why they decided to retire it. For me the current discussion is … Traillii and Evo or Traillii and Odin or Odin and Evo. Any advice appreciated.

 

[AnalogandDigital]

So … with Traillii thread folks mostly discussing other IEMs … does mean that the bird landed flat on its nose?

I know that a lot has been said and comparisons been made, but I’d love to hear more from long time users if they still love the bird and if not, why they decided to retire it. For me the current discussion is … Traillii and Evo or Traillii and Odin or Odin and Evo. Any advice appreciated.

Should Traillii owners only talk Traillii ?
People like to compare as you do ...
Most or better all owners have a few more IEM's besides Traillii
Like Jewel, Xe6, Annihilator or X, etc ...
Personally I don't see owners moving away from it since it's still the #1 here in the collections
Actually it looks more people buying it since it's sold out at MusicTeck to give you an idea
Now each pair has its particular sound and people flip among them depending on the genre of music their listening
But can be mood or any other reason
And one more is never bad ...

 

[MatW]

So … with Traillii thread folks mostly discussing other IEMs … does mean that the bird landed flat on its nose?

I know that a lot has been said and comparisons been made, but I’d love to hear more from long time users if they still love the bird and if not, why they decided to retire it. For me the current discussion is … Traillii and Evo or Traillii and Odin or Odin and Evo. Any advice appreciated.

Still very much love the Traillii. The best IEM overall for me. I would say Traillii and EVO, since EVO has the best bass in IEMs imho. A great pair and highly complementary.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

So … with Traillii thread folks mostly discussing other IEMs … does mean that the bird landed flat on its nose?

I know that a lot has been said and comparisons been made, but I’d love to hear more from long time users if they still love the bird and if not, why they decided to retire it. For me the current discussion is … Traillii and Evo or Traillii and Odin or Odin and Evo. Any advice appreciated.

Yes, the Traillii still matters. Here is the most recent Water cooler poll of top 3 IEMs and what landed at the top of the leader board. This group discusses every aspect of IEMs

Water Cooler Early Summer Top IEM Poll

 

[Dynamo5561]

So … with Traillii thread folks mostly discussing other IEMs … does mean that the bird landed flat on its nose?

I know that a lot has been said and comparisons been made, but I’d love to hear more from long time users if they still love the bird and if not, why they decided to retire it. For me the current discussion is … Traillii and Evo or Traillii and Odin or Odin and Evo. Any advice appreciated.

I can share some experiences I made lately. I have the Traillii and Odin. I wanted another IEM in order to replace the Odin and complement the Traillii. I find the Odin upper mids very often too much. I went for the Elysian X and the VE Phönix. Even I knew the latter one was also warm and probably similar to the Traillii, but I bought it out of curiosity.

The X was great. Nice technicalities, extended treble and DD bass. But what happened to the vocals? Nearly no emotions, so I think that's the reason people say it fits perfectly to EDM. So I sold it again.

Then the Phönix. Contrary to my expectations I love this IEM. I'd say bass is very similar like the Traillii, a bit less subbass. Both are warm. But the Phönix has meatier mids. And the treble is extended more on it, very nice treble!!

I was listening solely to the Phönix for the last days and switched to the Traillii today. I was very curious about how I will like the Traillii after listening to the Phönix so much.

First thing I noticed was the soundstage. You can not find the ethereal soundstage of the Traillii on any other IEM. It's so good. It lets you sink into the music. Additionally the timbre is so natural, never heard in any other IEM.

I like Traillii and Phönix the same. Both have their own qualities but I could not say which one I like more. Both are the best IEMs I have heard to date.

I was also able to listen to the Jewel some weeks ago. I was looking forward to it, as it should be a Traillii with DD bass. But I was really disappointed. It was warm but sounded at the same time analytical due to the upper mids. And the treble sounded uneven. I don't know, it sounded like a cheap copy of the Traillii to me. I know there are lots of praises, but for me it was no comparion between Traillii and Jewel.

 

[Skyediver]

I finally heard the Orpheus cable. I liked it, but I didn't like it enough to spend even the lowest used price I could find at $4000. It's worth about $2000-2500. That's what I would be willing to pay for it.

I just bought a First Times shielding for under $2000 and it has a lot of the attributes of the Orpheus that I heard at a much lower price. It's better than the First Times non-shielding which you can get for under $1600.

Also, when you get to this priced cable, it starts taking on the character of jewelry. So, ergonomics and aesthetics play a bigger role than normal. Believe it or not, I like the tight weave of the Orpheus more than the improvement in sound that it provided. The First Times Shielding has a similar tight weave.

Yeah, this makes a lot of sense, and probably where I land (on the aesthetics side of the equation). Fully understandable value/economic theory based judgements being made that simply make sense.

Since buying the Orphy to pair with the Bird, it's led to some very interesting reading/researching for me about this ongoing "debate" over decades really about things like cables, their impact to audio signal, etc. This podcast called Unexplainable had an episode called "How sound becomes hearing" which delves deep into the latest about what we know about how the brain processes hearing: https://www.vox.com/unexplainable

My learnings from it (at least in regards to my changing thoughts about cables and the impact they could have to what we hear), is that if the latest Scientists are saying there's much they still don't understand about how our brain interprets sound (ie: I had NO idea that the latest science seems to show that our sensitivity to certain frequencies may be affected by if we're left or right handed), then why are so many hobbyists and engineer-leaning audiophiles consider this only the domain of snake oil?

For me, this experience has opened my mind up to the possibility that SYNERGY is important in our setups, and though it may be a smaller percentage of impact compared to amps or dacs, cables can have some impact too if you open your mind to the possibility. If anything, it means MORE areas to consider when mixing and matching gear to test/appreciate different sound signatures. And and after listening to that podcast episode and being mesmerized by learning how amazing our ear/brain connection is (and how little we understand it), there's NO better term in hi-fi than YMMV.

 

[xenithon]

So … with Traillii thread folks mostly discussing other IEMs … does mean that the bird landed flat on its nose?

As others have mentioned, not at all. And on the contrary, to me it indicates that the Traillii is often a keeper in a collection. Not much else needs to be said other than an occasional "nod of recognition".

As for updates - I would like to try some of the cable upgrades like FT but funds have been focused on headphones mostly. In terms of Traillii, I can say that the C9 is a solid addition and highly recommended if you're using the bird straight from a DAP.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

Yeah, this makes a lot of sense, and probably where I land (on the aesthetics side of the equation). Fully understandable value/economic theory based judgements being made that simply make sense.

Since buying the Orphy to pair with the Bird, it's led to some very interesting reading/researching for me about this ongoing "debate" over decades really about things like cables, their impact to audio signal, etc. This podcast called Unexplainable had an episode called "How sound becomes hearing" which delves deep into the latest about what we know about how the brain processes hearing: https://www.vox.com/unexplainable

My learnings from it (at least in regards to my changing thoughts about cables and the impact they could have to what we hear), is that if the latest Scientists are saying there's much they still don't understand about how our brain interprets sound (ie: I had NO idea that the latest science seems to show that our sensitivity to certain frequencies may be affected by if we're left or right handed), then why are so many hobbyists and engineer-leaning audiophiles consider this only the domain of snake oil?

For me, this experience has opened my mind up to the possibility that SYNERGY is important in our setups, and though it may be a smaller percentage of impact compared to amps or dacs, cables can have some impact too if you open your mind to the possibility. If anything, it means MORE areas to consider when mixing and matching gear to test/appreciate different sound signatures. And and after listening to that podcast episode and being mesmerized by learning how amazing our ear/brain connection is (and how little we understand it), there's NO better term in hi-fi than YMMV.

Nice post. For me, I started off as a cable believer because I was sure I heard a difference in sound due to cables. Then, I looked at the science and it was compelling, so I became a cable agnostic. Then, I started A/B testing cables and I could hear a difference again. So I am back to being a cable believer. However, I fully acknowledge that it could be due to psychological factors as much as my actually hearing real differences. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. As long as I enjoy what I own and listening to it. It doesn't matter what is in the chain.